“Be proud of how far you’ve come,” he said in his valedictory speech May 24. “Believe how far you can go.”
Hogan said he’s taken those words to heart over the past few years.
“I had to finish my education,” he told The Washington Post in an interview, explaining that despite the difficult circumstances, he was determined to graduate along with 67 other students in his class.
Hogan lived with his grandmother for his first two years of high school, but when Hogan’s junior year came around, the house her grandmother was renting was put up for sale and she had 30 days to move out, her grandmother moved into a senior care facility, and Hogan was on his own.
“I wanted to live independently, to take a burden off her shoulders,” said Hogan, 19.
It was not an easy decision to make.
“I was confused. I didn’t know what to do,” he said. “I was scared.”
Hogan described her childhood as “wonderful,” but everything changed when her mother died on her eighth birthday. She and her siblings (two brothers and a sister) went to live with their grandmother. Over the years, the siblings were separated, living elsewhere with other families or on their own.
“The sad thing is that all of the relatives I know are out of state,” said Hogan, whose father lives outside Louisiana.
About two years ago, Hogan moved into Covenant House New Orleans, a homeless shelter for young people under the age of 22.
“When I first met him, he was very shy and closed off,” said Jahkayla Cobb, Hogan’s case manager at Covenant House. “His goals were very limited.”
But Hogan proves that “circumstances don’t define you,” Cobb said.
Cobb was immediately impressed by Hogan’s sharp intellect and artistic talent — he had won art awards at school and was particularly good at the humanities, his teachers said.
“He’s got a lot of talent,” Cobb said.
She and the other staff at Covenant House and his teachers at Hogan saw his potential. They encouraged him to stay rather than drop out and get a job. He gave it serious thought, and ultimately he did.
“He was always in school. He never missed a day of school,” said Robert McGriff, an English teacher at Walter L. Cohen High School who knew Hogan for about three years.
Hogan was initially hesitant to tell anyone about her living situation.
“I didn’t really talk to people because I didn’t know how they would perceive me,” Hogan said. “I just kept to myself.”
But he had confidence in several leaders, including McGriff.
“He was initially unwilling to accept any assistance,” McGriff said, adding that he helped Hogan in any way he could, including ensuring he had basic necessities.
“He didn’t succumb to it,” McGriff said. “He didn’t walk around with his head down. He adapted.”
Hogan graduated from high school with a 3.96 GPA and will be attending a four-year program at Xavier University in Louisiana on a full tuition scholarship, where she plans to study graphic design and art.
“I’m looking forward to it,” he said.
Hogan, who is one of four black men on the New Orleans valedictory graduating class, has set up a GoFundMe page to help cover the costs of housing, food and other basic living expenses, television news station WDSU reported.
“Elijah is a beautiful reflection of what happens when Black children in New Orleans get the services and opportunities they deserve. They shine,” said Jerrell Bryant, CEO of Collegiate Academy, the nonprofit public charter school network that runs Walter L. Cohen High School. “He’s doing just that, and we’re incredibly proud of him.”
Bryant said more than 95 percent of the school’s students are economically disadvantaged, and 18 of the school’s 375 students are homeless or in unstable housing situations.
Hogan’s path could have easily gone in a different direction.
“There are a lot of people who could have been in his situation and ended up on the streets,” McGriff said. “I’ve seen him grow up incredibly well.”
“He’s ready for college and I’m very excited,” he added.
Hogan said he couldn’t have done it without the unwavering care of staff at the school and Covenant House.
“I was able to achieve this mainly because of the support given to me,” he said.
He hopes to one day give back and inspire others to overcome hardships, and he said sharing his story is one way to do that.
“Don’t let your limitations get you down,” he said. “Don’t let them hold you back, use them to push you forward.”
